My middle class job with middle class pay requires me to be honest, have integrity and not have a criminal record. Thug sports recruiting with the thug pay range seems very enticing. As an American citizen, I will never understand "American business values". I HATE BEING HONEST AND I HATE HAVING INTEGRITY, this is obviously not the way to prosperity and high fortune in America. Just to openly admit to recruiting thugs, gangsters and other criminals into sports just to get the winning payoff in the end, is just criminal in itself. I am sort of jealous that these people are looked upon as great "stars" by sports fans. I guess this is why I never became a sports fan to begin with. I will stick with non-competition sports or sports that do not require a criminal record

Florida's arrest record since Meyer took over is extensive. So is its wins total. A grand total of 20 players have been ordered to appear before the court for 24 infractions. Most of the charges were misdemeanors. Some were felonies. All reflect poorly on the University of Florida when filtered through the scrutinizing prism of a newspaper.

But people should understand that our love of football in its current state helps to fuel this thuggish behavior. It's a byproduct of the game just like coaching salaries, television contracts ... my job as a football writer. There's a reason why Harvard won't be winning a national championship in football anytime soon. Does Harvard even have a football team? I wouldn't know. Its players' names don't show up on arrest reports. Jeremy Foley said it best: "This is part of the world we live in, and we understand this."

roadbikeRob saidHow many more football players engage in this same violent, thuggish behavior and haven't been caught by authorities

Difficult to say, because it gets covered up. Like almost happened with Ray Rice, after clocking his GF in the elevator, until more details of the partially suppressed story started leaking out and couldn't be contained anymore.

Same is true in college sports, where athletes get a pass for behavior that would get other students expelled. They can't kill the cash cows. And then the NFL recruits players from these campuses, guys who've already grown to think they're immune from the rules.

roadbikeRob saidHow many more football players engage in this same violent, thuggish behavior and haven't been caught by authorities

Difficult to say, because it gets covered up. Like almost happened with Ray Rice, after clocking his GF in the elevator, until more details of the partially suppressed story started leaking out and couldn't be contained anymore.

Same is true in college sports, where athletes get a pass for behavior that would get other students expelled. They can't kill the cash cows. And then the NFL recruits players from these campuses, guys who've already grown to think they're immune from the rules.

NFL = National Felony League

There are about 1,700 players in the NFL. If you break it down percentage wise there are probably no more felons than a lot of other professions. But like politicians and police officers, the media focuses on the bad guys. Nobody gets viewers by talking about players who have their own charities or are being assets to their communities.

Agree w/ you on the percentages argument, but if you live in a town w/ a pro or college team, the local papers regularly report the various charitable events and works they do. I met Drew Brees at one when he was w/ the Chargers and, being fraternity brothers, we had a nice chat. There's no disagreement that this joker is scum, though, and his guilt is as clear as the tattoos he defaced his body with for life.

roadbikeRob saidHow many more football players engage in this same violent, thuggish behavior and haven't been caught by authorities

Difficult to say, because it gets covered up. Like almost happened with Ray Rice, after clocking his GF in the elevator, until more details of the partially suppressed story started leaking out and couldn't be contained anymore.

Same is true in college sports, where athletes get a pass for behavior that would get other students expelled. They can't kill the cash cows. And then the NFL recruits players from these campuses, guys who've already grown to think they're immune from the rules.

NFL = National Felony League

There are about 1,700 players in the NFL. If you break it down percentage wise there are probably no more felons than a lot of other professions. But like politicians and police officers, the media focuses on the bad guys. Nobody gets viewers by talking about players who have their own charities or are being assets to their communities.

Every city I've lived in has extensively covered the "good works" that coaches and players do. From South Bend news stories on Coach Charlie Weiss' autism charity efforts (his daughter is autistic), to "the triangles" coverage of Coach K and his player's volunteering, to countless New York area athletes, the coverage is broad and deep.

Admittedly, it is local and at best regional coverage, but it is there. Perhaps to make the national wire it has to "bleed," but that isn't the norm in my experience. Where in North Carolina do you live?

Most of the arrests are for things like DUIs, marijuana possession and even fleeing after illegally parking in a handicapped space. I still say it's about the same thing you'd see if you took the arrest records of 2,000 lawyers or musicians or CEOs.

Serious inquiry: Do prisons allow lubricant? I've heard of some passing out condoms, but I firmly believe anal sex requires--at least a modicum--of lube. And preferrably "too much," which is the perfect amount.

I also wonder if he'd be a top of bottom. If I were trapped with him, of course I'd wish he were a top, but he seems like he might be a bottom. Something in his eye.

^^True. But I could counter that because professional athletes are disproportionately racial minorities, and racial minorities are disproportionately arrested, that this phenomenon makes it a wash.

And you could counter that their celebrity status makes it less likely that they'd be arrested--even if it were deserved.

The point is we can go back and forth, and tweak the data, but at the end of the day we can safely say NFL athletes are not roving thugs and their crime stats are similar (if not better) than the "relevant" comparitor population.

But for real, I think he did it. And I think his appeals will sink. Also, he's facing homicide charges in another jurisdiction. Translation: he's fucked.

No, learning a man killed another man, justified or not, does not change my calculus of whether he's hot or not. Conversely, if I imagine Hernandez being accused or rape or child molestation, then yes, that does make him "not hot" to me. Perplexing to say the least.

UPDATE: @Mulligan: you realize that most men two generations ago (our gransfather's age) killed a man, or multiple men, during WWII, right? There'd be a lot fewer people if those WWII vets were sex less when they came back in 1945.

UPDATE: @Mulligan: you realize that most men two generations ago (our gransfather's age) killed a man, or multiple men, during WWII, right? There'd be a lot fewer people if those WWII vets were sex less when they came back in 1945.

What the fuck? You're comparing a thug who murdered his drug dealer and is accused of two other murders with WWII vets?

Svnw688 said...but at the end of the day we can safely say NFL athletes are not roving thugs...

Can we really? I see lots of evidence that they ARE roving thugs. So that I wouldn't want to come within 100 feet of one, or watch them on TV, or purchase the products that advertise with the National Felony League (NFL).

A house cleaning is long overdue. Football is supposed to be a sport, not a safe zone for felons.

UPDATE: @Mulligan: you realize that most men two generations ago (our gransfather's age) killed a man, or multiple men, during WWII, right? There'd be a lot fewer people if those WWII vets were sex less when they came back in 1945.

What the fuck? You're comparing a thug who murdered his drug dealer and is accused of two other murders with WWII vets?

You realize there were two sides in WWI, right? So you find Americans sexy but Italians and Germans aren't? I'm not talking about Hitler or Mousillini, but what about the millions of German and Italian and Japanese soldiers....they're all "ugly" to you because they happened to be a part of the Axis powers or the wrong side? You only fuck American soldiers? What are you saying?

You're nonsensical and tend to make no sense in your posts. This one being no exception.

Svnw688 saidSerious inquiry: Do prisons allow lubricant? I've heard of some passing out condoms, but I firmly believe anal sex requires--at least a modicum--of lube. And preferrably "too much," which is the perfect amount.

I also wonder if he'd be a top of bottom. If I were trapped with him, of course I'd wish he were a top, but he seems like he might be a bottom. Something in his eye.